Flint, Michigan

5 Scientologists
sent to prison by federal judge

December 7,
1979

WASHINGTON (AP) -
Five Church of Scientology leaders are heading for prison for conspiring
to steal government documents, infiltrate federal agencies and kidnap
a church official who decided to help expose the crimes.

U.S. District Judge
Charles R. Richey sentenced the church leaders to either four or five-year
prison terms and fined each $10,000 Thursday. He said the punishment should
be "a deterrent to others."

Four other church
leaders and operatives were scheduled for sentencing today.

All were named in
a 28-count indictment that was trimmed to a single count against each
defendant under a plea agreement.

All the defendants
sentenced Thursday - including Mary Sue Hubbard, wife of church founder
L. Ron Hubbard - said they were sorry for their crimes. One, Henning Heldt,
said the church leaders were reacting to government attempts to "destroy
their religion and make a mockery of their beliefs."

Each expression
of remorse was countered by an angry denunciation of church officials
by Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond Banoun, who has worked on the case
for 2 1/2 years.

When a defendant
asked for a reduced jail term and the opportunity to do community service
work instead, Banoun noted that a blackjack, lock-picking equipment and
bugging devices were found in the Scientologist's office.

"What is the
example that Mr. (Gregory) Willardson can set for young people he wants
to help?" the prosecutor asked.

Banoun told Richey
the Scientologists' crimes went further than the conspiracy against the
government and the temporary kidnapping of Michael Meisner, who became
the government's chief witness.

"It was not
only the government they were after. It was anyone that was critical of
them," Banoun said.

The conspiracy included
stealing documents from the Internal Revenue Service, the Justice Department,
and the U.S. Attorney's office; bugging an IRS meeting about the church's
tax-exempt status and planting spies at the IRS and the Justice Department.

Church documents
released by the court show that Scientology leaders also plotted to infiltrate
law firms, newspapers and medical organizations that were critical of
the church.

Richey told the
defendants who asked him for public service work that prison terms were
needed in the "interest of society and justice." he told one
defendant that "the court is not fully convinced" of his remorse
and said to another: "You're too intelligent to have not known better.
Your conduct cannot be condoned and to do otherwise would be to make a
mockery of our system of justice."

Sentenced to four
years in prison and $10,000 fines were Heldt, Willardson, Duke Snider
and Richard Weigand. Richey ordered each of them to begin serving their
terms immediately, refusing their requests for bail pending appeals of
the convictions.

He gave Mrs. Hubbard
a five-year term and a $10,000 fine, but also told prison officials to
interview her and report back in three months with their recommendations
for length of sentence. The judge held out the possibility that the sentence
would be reduced after the report is completed.

Richey also gave
Mrs. Hubbard 10 days to ask the U.S. Court of Appeals to release her on
bail while she appeals the guilty verdict.